Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi has emerged as a central figure in the growing dispute between the United States and Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians.
VON News reported that on February 14, 2024, Anagbe appeared before the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, where he described what he called the “genocidal persecution of Christians” in Benue State and across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
He was invited once more on March 12, 2025, alongside Reverend Father Remigius Ihyula, to provide further insight into what they described as a severe humanitarian crisis.
The clerics alleged “systematic massacres, kidnappings, church burnings, and land seizures” supposedly carried out by suspected jihadists against Christian farming communities.
Records from the Catholic Diocese indicated that over 1,000 Christians had been killed within months, more than 160 churches destroyed, and entire farmlands and villages seized.
Anagbe accused the Nigerian government of a “conspiracy of silence,” asserting that authorities were turning a blind eye to the violence in pursuit of an “Islamic agenda.”
According to him, the aim was to make Nigeria “an Islamic state in West Africa” following Boko Haram’s jihadist campaign that began in 2009. Following their testimonies, both clerics reportedly received multiple death threats from suspected extremist sources.
In April 2025, several foreign embassies, including that of the United States, issued warnings that the Bishop could face arrest if he returned to Nigeria.
The Nigerian Foreign Ministry, however, denied involvement and promised investigations.
Fears of retaliation were reinforced when, between May 24 and 26, 2025, suspected militants attacked Anagbe’s home village of Aondona, killing at least 42 people, with some reports claiming over 70 fatalities, and displacing hundreds.
Between June 1 and 13, 2025, coordinated attacks in Gwer West and Apa LGAs, including Yelwata near Makurdi, reportedly left more than 300 men, women, and children dead, with many burned alive.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria condemned the attacks, expressing “deep anguish of soul” at “the utterly barbaric massacre of innocent civilians in Benue State.” The statement, signed by CBCN president Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri, added:
“These cold-blooded attacks on defenceless communities – where countless have been slaughtered, homes destroyed, and families left in anguish – are an affront to God, a stain on our shared humanity, and a terrifying reminder of the utter breakdown of security in our land. There is no justification whatsoever for the continuous bloodletting that has become the daily reality of many in Benue State and across Nigeria. The relentless attacks on innocent and defenceless communities under the watch of civil authorities constitute a grave moral and constitutional failure. This carnage must end.”
The claims were supported by a study conducted by the Catholic-inspired NGO Intersociety, which reported that armed groups and their allies occupied at least 950 locations in Nigeria’s largely Christian south-eastern states of Abia, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi.
“These 950 locations are spread across 800 communities in the region, meaning around 40 per cent of the 1,940 communities is threatened,” the study stated.
On October 31, 2025, President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern’ in response to the alleged genocide against Christians.
He warned that the Nigerian government must act immediately to halt the “killing of Christians.” Hours later, Trump signaled that he was considering military action, including “air strikes or boots on the ground,” to “completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists killing Christians in Nigeria.”
In a video message on November 5, Trump condemned the killings and warned of consequences if the Nigerian authorities failed to act decisively.
He doubled down on his threat on November 6, emphasizing that the U.S. would suspend all aid if the violence persisted.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid assistance to Nigeria. We are going to do things to Nigerians that Nigeria is not going to be happy about and may very well go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing the Department of War to prepare for possible actions. If we attack, it is going to be vicious and sweet just as the terrorist thugs attack our chrished chirstians. The Nigerian government had better move fast before it is too late. Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands and thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
He further called on members of Congress, Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to investigate urgently and report back, “I am hereby making Nigeria a country of particular concern. That’s a legal definition. When the Christians or any such group is slaughtered, like it’s happening in Nigeria, 3,100 versus 4,476 worldwide, what horrible numbers! Something has to be done. I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter and report back to me. The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria and numerous other countries. It’s not only Nigeria, it’s all over. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world.”
